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May 29, 2014

Fashion house Burberry has plans to launch luxury skincare line by 2015. Moving into skincare is also an exercise in customer relations; skincare "drives loyalty over time," says John Smith,Burberry chief operating officer. Burberry hopes to become one of the top 10 players in the luxury skincare field. Although not much raved about on blogs, Burberry makeup is top quality as other luxury brands and has released beautiful seasonal collections since its launch.My Burberry wishlist:

May 21, 2014

The slit at Cannes Festival. Causing quite a stir on the red
carpet, thigh high slits are challenging but freedom expression in street
style. Still thinking why Angelina Jolie’s leg caused such an upheaval at
Oscars.

This product true to its claim delivers soft and cleansed
skin. I start using it as face wash after moistening the face, massaging the
small blue particles gently in circular motion and leave it on for 2-3 minutes,
then wash off. The scrub particles are very fine, not harsh and very helpful in
removing the dead skin. Kaolin being one ingredient, I can feel the clay as the
base of this. It has a fresh peppermint fragrance and thick texture. I use Total
face cleanup once in 10 days to get rid of blackheads, white flakes and dead
skin. As a face wash, it does not lather, as a scrub it serves the exact purpose
and does nothing as a pack. In my opinion, it should have been marketed only as
a scrub. After using Total face cleanup, my skin becomes more porous and
moisturiser works deeply.

Recommendation – I will buy this product again as it worked
really well for my dry skin. Total face cleanup is perfect soft scrub I needed
and cleanses well. However I recommend using it once a week maximum.

May 6, 2014

Early in the day, we decided to visit the Clarke Quay and
take a stroll of Singapore River. Full Boating rides were closed due to New
Year’s eve. Lazily, we walked around the river, reached Fullerton hotel and met
Merlion. People were going crazy for pictures with the mythical creature, as were we. Next we came across Esplanade
theatre and the heavy duty arrangements in the amphitheatre for 31st
night. Youngsters were already thronging the area in afternoon to reserve their
seats for night show. Reached our destination Singapore Flyer.

Clarke Quay, Singapore river

Merlion, Esplanade

Singapore Flyer, the view from top

Statue of Sir Stamford Raffles, Balestier food market

Early evening headed back to hotel, had early dinner and all
geared up to visit Marina Bay for New Year’s eve firework show. You have to
visit the area yourself to see the crowd on 31st night there, people
were crawling everywhere, many of whom might have reached in evening to reserve
space. We managed to have inches of space to sit and wait for 12 am. After the
show it’s a complete stampede when whole crowd iss jostling to go back to their
places.

Marina Bay

Next day we had our flight back home so visited the Dhoby
Ghat area for shopping.

Tips:

Singapore weather is very humid and it might rain anytime,
keep umbrella for those showers.

Lots of walking, do not risk new shoes, wear comfortable
pair and flats.

Take light cotton clothing, as airy as possible.

Get the Ezlink card at airport, will save travel money and
Singapore watching would be a breeze.

Choose a hotel near bus stop / metro station.

For food, I found the Balestier local food market near our hotel
on 2nd day, it offered breakfast, lunch dinner, ranging from,
Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Singaporean, veg and non veg. Go look for nearby
hawker market, as surviving at KFC , McDonalds would be hard. For purely
breakfast, Toast Box also has good options.

For late night bites, KFC and McDonalds are open till wee
hours on public holidays.

Convenience stores like Cheers and 7 Eleven are open
everywhere for 24 hours.

Singapore is a very clean and mannered city, so everyone
must mind their hygiene and be on best behaviour. Sometimes locals may not
oblige you with clicking your photos, do not be disheartened and try to find
fellow tourist.

There are more places to be covered like China
Town, Little India, Haji Lane, Jurong Bird Park and so on. However, do not
clutter your itinerary and enjoy your time there focussing on what you wish to
see.

May 5, 2014

Second day we headed for Vivo City mall to board the Sentosa
Express. If one has the Ezlink card then you are saved from the train ticket
queue. We got combined tickets for Universal Studios and S.E.A. Aquarium. Both
require complete day with the studios having 7 different themes.

Quick bite at Vivo City mall

S.E.A. Aquarium

Universal Studios

Universal Studios

Day 3 – Singapore Zoo and River Safari

River Safari should only be done if you are
interested to see the Giant Panda. Also do not miss the Polar Bear feeding and
Sea Lion Splash show.

May 4, 2014

I planned for Singapore looking at the Tiger Air ad (yeah,
that random) in newspaper and we decided to welcome the New Year’s Eve over
there. Being a newbie in travel writing, I would not really know how this
series ends up, please keep up.

We were travelling from Bangalore and booked the return
flights in mid-August on Tiger Air through Cleartrip.com. New Year’s is big
time celebration in Singapore and many people holiday around that time.
Accommodation is very expensive there all year round so I searched extensively
for budget hotels and zeroed on Value Hotel Balestier, booked in mid-August
through Booking.com. Visa was done month ahead. This was the first
international holiday, planned it completely on my own and I am very proud of
it. If you would ask me that how I chose this hotel or location, I would say by
reading many reviews on Tripadvisor and Booking, and one has to take the
plunge. Glad that everything worked out.

Day 1 - Orchard Road

We reached Singapore in morning. Changi airport is huge,
swift and immigration process is a breeze. A friend was there to receive us and
he was real help. The first thing he suggested was to get the Ezlink card at
the airport and it was the smartest move. We used this card throughout our trip
riding buses and MRT. We decided to ride by bus from airport to the hotel, and
absorbed the whole city like this. We checked in the hotel, staff was helpful,
rooms were clean, all amenities provided. Just in front of the hotel is bus
stop and Novena MRT station is nearby. During our stay only twice we had to
board a cab (very small distance), otherwise all travel was done through public
transport. One can completely do with that.

We decided to start with Orchard Road – the shopping
destination in afternoon. Boarded bus till Far East Plaza, had our lunch there
and tried Thai Laksa. A complete walkthrough the humungous shopping malls there
– Isetan, Ion Orchard, Wheelock Place, small shopping centres tucked in the
basement. At Orchard Road, one could find from $5 shoes to Cartier jewellery.

Orchard Road

Ion Orchard, loving the Christmas decoration

**JAMES BOND MOMENT**

We came face to face with Mr. Pierce Brosnan outside Coffee Club, Wheelock Place, and were so dazed; shocked that could not mutter courage for a photo. I mean how one could dream that we would see James Bond passing by on the street. He was with family and shopping I guess. This is a fairly good pointer that you could encounter Hollywood / Bollywood personalities in Singapore holidaying, so dress up to the part and please believe your eyes. I was star struck for a minute but would remember it for whole life.

In trend with the metallic fashion and bling couture, here
is a quick review of some MAC eyeshadows I am warming upto. Better late than
never reviewed, some shades are limited edition (LE) and might not be up for
grabs.

clockwise from top left - Jaan, Folie, Carbon, Vivah

Jaan (LE) is a lustre finish eyeshadow. It is peach, flesh
tone with gold sparkles. The color intensity is medium and a beautiful shade
for brow bone and inner eye corners. However the sparkles fall out.

Folie (permanent) is satin finish, described as reddish-plum
brown. It’s a weird shade if you apply it all over lid, you feel knocked down.
The intensity is good, so I use it more for outer corner.

Vivah (LE) is lustre finish, brown with gold sparkles. It
comes out beautifully and can be used as all over lid color. Sparkle fall out
exists here too. However Vivah speaks Sabyasachi Opium Dream collection.

Carbon (permanent) is matte black eyeshadow. On its own it
has the worst intensity and very chalky, but could be used to build up other
colors. Consider it to be the supporting cast.

Chessa, Indie Spirit

Chessa (LE) is veluxe pearl finish, golden orange color. It
is a beautiful color with good intensity, almost a golden sun setting proudly.
A must have color for Indian wedding makeup.

Indie Spirit (LE) is matte finish, almond brown
color with red undertones. It looks similar to Folie, less red and softer
finish.